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George Poe (1846-1914)
| birth_place =Elkridge Landing, Maryland | death_date = | death_place =Norfolk, Virginia | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | residence = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = | title = | salary = | networth = | height = | weight = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | religion = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents =George Poe, Sr. Elizabeth Ross Ellicott | relatives =Edgar Allan Poe, cousin | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} George Poe, Jr. (May 8, 1846 – February 3, 1914) was a pioneer of chemical technology and artificial respiration. He was the first to manufacture nitrous oxide for commercial use. Biography He was the son of George Poe, Sr. (1808-?) and Elizabeth Ross Ellicott (1810-1881), who married on December 14, 1835. Maryland Marriage Index, 1655-1850 He had the following siblings: Harriet Poe (1839-?); Fanny Poe (1841-?); Elizabeth Poe (1844-?); Lucretia Poe (1850-?); and Mary Poe (1853-?) George Poe, Sr. family Around 1885 he married Margaret Amy Wallace (1854-1932) and they had the following children: George Poe III; Mary Elizabeth Ellicott Poe (1874-1944) who married George Pender Hart (1862-1936); and Elizabeth Ellicott Poe (c1886-c1948). He attended the Virginia Military Institute, and after fighting in the American Civil War, Poe built the Poe Chemical Works in Trenton, New Jersey]], which included the first plant in America for mass-producing liquid nitrous oxide. By 1883 he was supplying about 5000 dentists with laughing gas. Using the resources of his large factory, Poe experimented with oxygen cylinders and tubing and found that he could resuscitate rats and rabbits that he had apparently suffocated to death. In 1889, he undertook a nationwide tour, amazing his audiences. He claimed that his apparatus could revive humans who had drowned or been poisoned by gas lamps, and should be available in all hotels and lodging houses to deal with gas poisoning. This attracted wide attention in the press. Illness curtailed his activities. By 1900, he was nearly blind and partly paralysed, and his doctors advised him to relocate to the country and retire. He moved to the Norfolk, Virginia farm of a friend, Abram Cline Ostrander (1843-1914) (September 12, 1843 - October 2, 1914) Ostrander: A Genealogical Record, 1660-1995, By Emmett and Vinton Ostrander, page 448,Death Certificate of Abram Cline Ostrander, October 2, 1914 and his family. The Washington Times, Magazine Section, January 27, 1907. He found that he could continue his research by enlisting the help of Arthur Frederick Ostrander (1895-1978) (February 14, 1895 - February 1978)Ostrander: A Genealogical Record, 1660-1995, by Emmett and Vinton Ostrander, page 448, Social Security Death Index of Arthur F. Ostranderthe 10 year old son of his friend. Arthur Frederick Ostrander and family in the 1900 US Census Arthur Ostrander acted as Poe's eyes and hands, allowing him to further refine his device. In 1907 he began another tour, accompanied by Arthur Ostrander, and two Norfolk physicians, Dr. Francis Morgan and Dr. J. P. Jackson. He gained fresh publicity in 1909 when a man called Moses Goodman was revived using his apparatus. Again, his health prevented him from doing much, and other inventors developed their own artificial respirators. Nevertheless, when he died, the obituaries said that he had been nominated for a Nobel Prize. He is buried in Confederate Square, a Civil War memorial situated within Magnolia Cemetery, in Norfolk, Virginia."Professor George Poe passed away yesterday", obituary of George Poe in the Norfolk, Virginia, Ledger-Dispatch, February 3, 1914 He was a cousin of Edgar Allan Poe. References Category:Non-SMW people articles